


Kyle Comes Home

by soongtypeprincess



Series: RanSid Gay Dads AU [2]
Category: Outcast (TV 2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Parents, Family, Family Feels, Foster Care, Gay Parents, Kid Fic, M/M, Orphans
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-11
Updated: 2017-12-11
Packaged: 2019-02-13 07:34:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,395
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12979185
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/soongtypeprincess/pseuds/soongtypeprincess
Summary: Kyle Barnes has been taken out of his abusive mother's house and arrives to his new foster home with The Andersons.





	Kyle Comes Home

**Author's Note:**

> In this fic, Megan is five and Kyle is eight.
> 
> I DO NOT OWN ANY OF THESE CHARACTERS!!

Megan stood in the front yard against the mailbox looking down their dirt road for any sign of her papa’s car. Sidney watched her from the porch swing, wiping the sweat from the back of his neck with his handkerchief. 

“When are they gonna get here, Daddy?” Megan’s voice called to him.

“Any minute now, baby,” he replied as he put his handkerchief in the front pocket of his khakis. 

Megan picked up a dandelion and pulled off its bright petals.

“You remember what we told you?” Sidney asked.

“Yes, sir,” she said, crumbling the remainder of the flower in her hand and watching it fall at her feet.  
\----- 

It was last week when Megan happened to walk into the living room after brushing her teeth. John would usually read to her from her favorite Dr. Seuss or Mercer Mayer books, and if she didn’t feel like a story then Sidney would sing to her. 

Her fathers were talking softly to one another and suddenly stopped when Megan had come back downstairs. John motioned for her to sit in his lap and they explained that they would soon have a visitor.

He was a young boy, about 8 years-old, and he was taken out of his home. When Megan asked why, Sidney explained that his mama was mean to him and hurt him, so he had to be away from her for a while.

“Was my mama mean?” she had asked. “Is that why she left me with Uncle Byron?”

Sidney took her hand and said, “We don’t know much about your mama, sugar. She was probably very young and scared when she had you, and felt that you would be happier living with other people. I’m sure she loved you very much.”

John kissed her temple as she nodded. “This boy, now,” he said, “he’s in a real fragile state. You know what that means?” He felt Megan shake her head. “It means he’s very sad right now. So, we have to make sure that he feels welcome here. Understand?”

“Is he bringing any toys?” she asked.

Sidney smiled. “I don’t think so, honey. I don’t think he’s gonna bring much with him but a few articles of clothing.”

She licked her lips and said, “Well, I’ll share my toys…if he wants to play with them.”

“That’s mighty nice of you, Bug,” John praised her.  
\---- 

Megan spotted a flash of green from the corner of her eye. She looked down the road and saw John’s Prius pulling forward. 

“They’re here!” she exclaimed.

Sidney got up from the porch swing as Megan ran to his side. He took her hand and walked with her to the driveway.

The car came to a halt and John stepped out to open the trunk. Megan watched as the passenger door opened and the boy stepped out and walked around to stand next to John.

The boy was pale and thin with dark, messy hair that fell into his somber eyes. He looked around the yard and at the house, an old backpack was hanging from his right shoulder. He followed John, who was carrying his lime green suitcase.

Sidney let go of Megan’s hand and gently nudged her shoulder. “Go on,” he whispered. “Say hi.”

She put her hands behind her back as the boy stepped closer. “Hi,” she said to him. When he didn’t respond, she continued, “I’m Megan. What’s your name?”

The boy briefly looked up at John before replying with a low voice. “Kyle.”

Sidney smiled at their exchange. “Hello, Kyle,” he told him. “I’m Sidney. Welcome to our home.”

There was an awkward pause between the four of them until John cleared his throat and said, “Well, why don’t you go get settled in your room and we'll have some lunch. Megan, will you show Kyle where his room is, please?”

“Okay,” she said as she took the suitcase from John and grunted as she carried it toward the front door.

“You got it, honey?” John asked with a small laugh.

“Got it!” she exclaimed. “Come on, Kyle!”

Kyle followed her into the house, quite surprised at how much strength she had in her tiny body. 

When they got to the foot of the stairs that led to the bedrooms, Megan set down the suitcase to rest. “Geez, Louise!” she said. “This feels like you packed an elephant!”

She suddenly remembered what her fathers had told her and she corrected herself. “I’m sorry,” she said to him. “I was only joking.”

Kyle gave her a shy grin. “It’s okay,” he said. “Thank you for helping me.”

“No problem,” she grunted as she lifted the suitcase again. 

Kyle grabbed the other end of his luggage and helped her carry it. 

After they tossed it onto the bed in the spare room, Kyle put his backpack on the floor and looked around. The carpet was beige and had long, soft fibers that made his shoes sink in a bit, and the wall was painted an olive green. There was a small bookcase with a few of Sidney’s old books on it from his high school and college days, and there were posters of the solar system, nebulas, and constellations tacked to the walls. His bedspread was also designed with constellations on a dark blue background.

“I picked out the posters and the blanket,” Megan proudly told him. “If you don’t like them, we can take them back to the store. I figured ‘who doesn’t like space?’ I like space. Do you like space?”

Kyle nodded. “Uh huh. I like looking at the stars.”

“Oh! Then you’ll love livin’ here! You can see all the stars in the sky!”

Kyle sat on the edge of the bed. “Really?” 

“Yeah!” Megan sat on the floor in front of him. “Sometimes, if it ain’t too cold or too cloudy, Daddy and Papa and me will put a blanket in the back yard and we’ll lay down and look at the stars. It’s really cool! Daddy said that we can see all the stars because we live in the country and there’s no…uh, what did he call it?”

“Light pollution?” Kyle asked.

“Yeah, that’s the one!”

Kyle peered down at the excitable, quite articulate 5 year-old. He had been nervous about moving in with strangers, but his new foster sister was starting to make him feel more comfortable. He glanced at his bookshelf. “Those books are old,” he stated, then noticed Megan’s disheartened expression. “But I like them,” he assured her. “I love to read.”

“Me too!” Megan told him.

“I have a new book, actually. Wanna see?” he asked her.

“Uh, yeah!” she said.

He opened his backpack and pulled out a book with a worn spine and tears across the back cover. He crawled onto the floor with Megan where they both laid on their bellies as he put the book in front of them. “I got this at my old library. It’s a used book but –“

Megan gasped. “We have a used bookstore here! It’s huge. Two floors!”

Kyle looked at her with wide eyes. “Really? The library I got this from was old and smelly.”

“This one smells good. It has a coffee place inside it. Papa loves to have coffee there. He drinks coffee all day!”

Kyle laughed as he looked down at the aged green cover of the book. “I gotta warn you, though,” he said, “this book is about insects.”

“That’s cool!” she exclaimed.

“You like bugs?” he laughed.

“Bugs are my most favorite things ever! We have lots of them here!”

Kyle opened the book and showed her a few pages. “Well, this is an insect guide. If you find a bug, and you don’t know what kind it is, you just look for it in here, and it gives you the name, the scientific name, where it usually lives, what it eats…”

Megan watched with wide eyes as Kyle turned the pages that showed the meticulously detailed illustrations of different insects. Every turn of the page was followed by a reaction or a short comment about how Megan once found the biggest ant hill she had ever seen, or the time that Kyle had a spider in his old basement that he swears would eat all the mice that came into the house.

“Spiders can get that big?” Megan asked, excited at this prospect.

“Huge!” Kyle replied. “Look at this one.” He flipped the pages until he landed on a drawing of a big, hairy arachnid. “This is a Huntsman spider and they’re from Australia. They’re so big that they can drop from their webs and catch birds!”

Megan stared in disbelief at the drawing. She then set on a serious expression and said, “This is the coolest book I’ve ever seen.”

John peered into the room to check on them. “What’s all commotion in here?”

Megan picked up the book and showed him the drawing. “Look at how big this spider is, Papa!”

“Holy Jesus!” John jumped in shock. “Please put that away, honey. My heart ain’t what it used to be!”

“Oh yeah, sorry,” she giggled and then said to Kyle, “Papa hates spiders. Daddy won’t let him kill them, though, because Daddy’s a vegan and he doesn’t like to kill anything, so he catches all the spiders and puts them outside. I like that he does that.”

“Hey, don’t make me out to a bad guy,” John teased her, making both kids giggle. He rubbed his hands together and said “Well, Sidney tells me that we need to go to the store to get some toiletries and other things for you, Kyle. How about we have lunch at Waffle House instead, and then we can go to the Piggly-Wiggly?”

“Waffle House?” Kyle asked, surprised. “Really?” 

“Of course,” John replied. “We try to go once a week. It’s our thing.”

“I…I’ve never been,” he admitted.

“What?” Megan yelled as she sprang from the floor. “Oh my gosh, Kyle, you’ll love it! I like to get the pancakes with the whipped cream and strawberries! And they have the best hot chocolate.”

Kyle slowly got to his feet. “Um…do they have…?” He stopped and looked away, embarrassed to say that he didn’t want pancakes. He didn’t want to seem ungrateful for them taking him in, but then again, they didn’t know that he had to eat mostly frozen waffles when his mother was too inebriated to feed him.

John could sense his discomfort and knelt to his level. “They got more than just sugary pancakes, now, Kyle. You can have anything you want.”

Kyle bit his lip and looked down at his hands. “I really…is it okay if I get a cheeseburger?”

John gave him a big smile. “Why, son, you can get the biggest, greasiest cheeseburger you ever had in your life!”

“The hugest!” Megan hollered.

“And French fries just tumblin’ off the plate!”

Megan jumped up and down. “Yep yep!”

“And a triple-layer chocolate cake that’ll make ya sing Hallelujah!”

“Hallelujah!” Megan shouted, raising her hands in the air. “Praise Jesus for the chocolate cake!”

“Amen, little sister!” John exclaimed.

Sidney suddenly peered into the bedroom and smirked. “Can ya’ll please keep the Spirit to a minimum? It’s not even Sunday.”

“Hey, Kyle,” Megan said, “here’s my impression of this one lady at our church.” She placed one hand on her chest and her other hand in the air. “Oh Lawd have mercy! Jesus is fillin’ mah soul!” She then dramatically sighed and ‘fainted’ onto the carpet.

Kyle and Sidney burst into a fit of laughter while John tried to contain his own giggling while he scolded, “Ms. Dubose is a good, sweet Christian woman.”  
\-----

Later that night

“Mom! No, stop! Please, stop, Mom!”

Kyle’s voice echoed in his room as he tossed his body on the mattress. He kicked the sheets to the floor as Sidney approached the bed and held his shoulders. 

“Kyle, honey, it’s okay,” he said softly as he stroked the boy’s hair. “Shh, shh, it’s okay.” 

Kyle awoke with his face wet with tears and he sat up and leaned against Sidney’s chest. “Ma…Mama…”

Sidney pulled him onto his lap and rocked him. “You’re safe, Kyle,” he whispered. “It’s all right. You’re safe.”

“Sidney…” he whined.

“It’s me, honey. You were having a nightmare.”

Kyle gripped the terry cloth of Sidney’s robe as he caught his breath. “My stomach hurts,” he whispered.

Sidney patted his back. “I’ll get you some water.” He propped up Kyle’s pillow and helped him sit against the headboard. “Be right back, son.” 

Kyle pulled the comforter to his shoulders to fight off the chill in his body. Suddenly, Megan’s face peered around the door. 

She stepped into the bedroom. “Hey, are you okay?” she whispered.

Kyle looked at her with red eyes and saw that she was in her long, blue cotton night gown and clutching a stuffed grey owl to her chest. He nodded. “I…I think so,” he whispered back. “My stomach hurts, though.” He paused to laugh softly. “Must have been that cheeseburger.”

“Did you have a nightmare?” Megan asked. “I still have nightmares, too.”

He wiped his nose with his shirt sleeve. “I like your owl…” he said.

Megan squeezed her stuffed animal. “Thank you. His name is Oskar. He helps me sleep.”

Sidney returned with a glass of ice water and patted his daughter’s head. “Baby, go back to bed,” he said. “He’s okay now.”

Megan nodded and turned to walk out the door, but stopped. She spun around and walked to the bed, kissing her owl on its forehead before handing it to Kyle. “You can have him tonight,” she said. “You’ll sleep good.”

Kyle looked down at the owl that stared back at him with wide eyes. He sniffed again and drank some of his ice water. “Thank you,” he whispered after taking a big gulp. 

He lay on the bed and watched her whisper something in Sidney’s ear before leaving the bedroom. 

Kyle laid down and squeezed the owl against his stomach. Sidney tucked him in as Kyle turned away and closed his eyes. 

As he drifted back to sleep, he felt Sidney rub his back as began to sing. “Oh, give me land, lots of land, under starry skies above. Don’t fence me in…”


End file.
